1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system and method for vehicle deployment, extraction, and stowage.
2. Background Art
Conventional vehicle deployment, extraction, and stowage systems and methods include the General Motors Vert-A-Pac railroad cars for stowage of vertically oriented vehicles; elevator lift systems that have stowage for horizontally oriented vehicles; the modular reusable shipping crate of U.S. Pat. No. 7,762,417, issued Jul. 27, 2010; and the vehicle storage lift of U.S. Pat. No. 7,861,828, issued Jan. 4, 2011.
Such conventional systems and methods may have deficiencies such as they are generally specialized for particular vehicles, require extensive human interaction, have limited storage capacity, and/or fail to provide efficient space utilization. As such, conventional vehicle deployment, extraction, and stowage systems and methods may be unsuitable for unmanned ground vehicles.
Thus, there exists a need and an opportunity for an improved system and method of unmanned ground vehicle deployment, extraction, and stowage. Such an improved system and method may overcome one or more of the deficiencies of the conventional approaches.